As weight increases, both the Hip Circumference measurement and Waist Circumference measurement increase. However the Waist Circumference and Hip Circumference increase at different rates, depending on the age and weight of the consumer. For infants and young adults, less than about 18 years old and less than about 50 kg in weight, on average their Hip Circumferences increase at a faster rate than their Waist Circumferences. For adult consumers, greater than about 18 years old and greater than about 50 kg in weight, on average their Waist Circumferences increase at a faster rate than their Hip Circumferences. The Hip Circumference measurement, due to the relationship to the prominent point of the buttocks, generally establishes the primary anchoring point of the absorbent article as it often represents the maximum circumference around the body. This is especially true for consumers who have a more cylindrical body shape or a more apple-like body shape. In alternative embodiments, the Waist Circumference measurement can be the primary anchoring point of the absorbent article as it can represent the minimum circumference around the body especially for consumers who have a more hourglass body shape or a more pear-like body shape. This is a function of fit at the minimum circumference, which means the product circumference and as a result force at the waist would have to increase to slide or sag due to the increased body dimension at the hip. For products comprising one uniform elastic material or a series of uniformly strained strands of material, the hip may be the highest force region in the waist-encircling portion of the article, especially for hour glass or pear shaped body styles. For smaller infants and larger adults, the high force region can extend toward the waist as the Waist Circumference measurement approaches the Hip Circumference measurement. The Hip Circumference and Waist Circumference are illustrated in FIG. 1. The relationship of the Hip Circumference to the Waist Circumference (Hip Circumference-to-Waist Circumference Ratio), as illustrated in FIG. 2 as a function of body weight, and in FIG. 3 as a function of age. This is an important product design parameter to ensure that the shape of the product in the waist region more closely approximates the shape of the body in the waist region. Having an understanding of the relationship between the Hip Circumference and Waist Circumference enables targeting of elastic forces based on the body shape to enable improved fit, comfort and gasketing. Elastic forces that are too high as well as elastic forces that are too low can both have a negative impact on fit, performance and comfort. High force leads to fit that is too tight and uncomfortable due to skin marking and low forces lead to loose fit, sagging and potential leakage due to poor gasketing.
The Hip Width and Waist Width are illustrated in FIG. 4. The correlation between the Hip Circumference and Hip Width is shown in FIG. 5, and the correlation between Waist Circumference and Waist Width is shown in FIG. 6. The Body Hip-to-Waist Silhouette, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 7 correlates with the Hip Circumference-to-Waist Circumference Ratio as the values of both increase as a function of weight for infants and young adults, less than about 50 kg in weight, and decrease as a function of weight for adults greater than about 50 kg in weight. This is shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 7.
A key benefit of having the Product Hip-to-Waist Silhouette closer to that of the Body Hip-to-Waist Silhouette and designed to change accordingly with body weight is that the product itself more closely matches the shape of the body. This results in the product being deformed to a significantly lesser degree during application than one that is generically designed to generically fit a bigger range as illustrated by the current marketed products. It also results in a product fit, which is more tailored to the body shape, providing more effective gasketing and more targeted force and pressure distribution between the hip and waist. In fact, many of the current marketed product arrays do not provide adequate fit, gasketing, comfort and discretion across the entire range. Additionally, product designs, which mimic the general shape of the body convey to consumers a better, more tailored fit as the Product Hip-to-Waist Silhouettes are more similar to consumers' Body Hip-to-Waist Silhouettes. The designs enabled by the present disclosure are more targeted by design and therefore provide a greater level of fit, gasketing, comfort and discretion.
Absorbent articles of the present disclosure may be used to absorb and contain liquid and other discharges from the human body to prevent the body and clothing from becoming soiled.
Absorbent articles come in a variety of designs, each typically available in multiple sizes, including 2, 3 and 4 size arrays. The size of articles of the prior art typically affects, for example, the size of the waist opening, the size of the openings around the thighs, and the length or “pitch” of the article. The prior art articles are typically sized and sold by weight or waist circumference dimension.
Desirably, an absorbent article should be designed and sized to maintain contact with and conform as closely as possible to a wearer's body. Such a body-conforming design may increase the effectiveness of the absorbent article by reducing the possibility that urine, or the like, will spread or travel along the wearer's body and leak out of rather than be absorbed into the absorbent article. However, current absorbent articles on the market do not adequately address body shape or product shape and therefore do not fit a broad range of users adequately or provide the desired level of close fit. Typically packages of absorbent articles are labeled with a recommended wearer weight or waist circumference range that the packaged article is intended to fit. As a result, the weight or waist circumference are often the only criteria used to identify the size of an article. The waist size does not in itself adequately describe the body shape of the individual and therefore does not help define the hip or thigh circumference nor the pitch that may be needed to provide the proper fit, comfort, coverage and gasketing of the article. This is the case even though other characteristics and anthropometric attributes of potential wearers (for example, age, height, weight, thigh circumference, and rise) may vary widely within the recommended weight or waist circumference range, and may result in an ill-fitting article even though a wearer's weight or waist circumference falls within that range. There is a need for absorbent articles that conform well to various wearers' body shapes and sizes. While there is a wide range of body shapes and sizes among consumers, available products do not reflect this wide range; rather, absorbent articles available today within a given product array tend to be scaled versions of each other, and do not even follow the natural trend of body shape and dimensional changes across the range of consumers, i.e. smaller to larger consumers as well as consumers of varying shape.
As consumers gain in body weight, they exhibit different ratios of body anthropometrics than smaller consumers, i.e., all body dimensions do not simply scale-up as consumers get larger. In addition, consumers across the range of weight may also have very different body shapes. There is a lack of recognition and understanding of this issue by current absorbent article manufacturers and as such consumers' needs are not being adequately met. Therefore, there is a need to develop absorbent articles for a wide variety of body shapes and sizes in order to provide an improved level of fit and contact between the body and the absorbent article to reduce the occurrence leakage and improve the overall fit, comfort, coverage and discretion of the article. There is a clear need for absorbent articles which are designed for a variety of wearers based on their weight and body shape. There is also a need to communicate to wearers the benefits of such customized absorbent articles in an easy-to-understand.
These are all objects of the present disclosure; embodiments of the present disclosure may combine various objects mentioned. A particular embodiment may, but need not, embody every object as described.